00:00 We are here in the hills of Texas where it is hotter than snot, but it's for a good reason.
00:04 We are driving the 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT1000. This is not an all-new machine,
00:13 but it has been thoughtfully updated. We're going to give you five things we love,
00:17 five things we hate, and then we're going to tell you exactly who should be buying
00:20 this machine. Let's get started.
00:26 The number one thing we love, this is a no-nonsense rig. We live in a time where
00:32 almost all utility rigs are also toys. This is not a toy. It comes with a three-year warranty.
00:38 That's insane. That's almost three times as much as some competitors. And it gets that
00:44 warranty because it is a stout rig. You have a metal bed. You've got metal bed sides. It's a
00:50 full tilt bed. You've got a new engine that's made for work. This is a tool first, a toy second.
00:57 The second thing that we love about this rig is it is inexpensive, not cheap. What do I mean by
01:04 that? We just drove a utility rig that I can't quite tell you about yet, but it was over $50,000.
01:09 The top of the line Mule Pro FXT is $23,000. It comes with nice seats, comes with nice paint.
01:17 It's a decked out rig that's a little bit nicer. Something you're proud to see in front of your
01:21 house, but it's still only $23,000. And that still buys you a really solid rig. You get a box ladder
01:28 frame. You get a locking front differential. You get more ground clearance than you've had before.
01:34 It's a lot of rig for not a lot of money. And for a lot of people that takes the right box.
01:38 Number three is power. There's a new motor for 2024. It's a 990 cc twin borrowed from the KRX.
01:46 Is it the same 110 horsepower engine? No, it's been detuned. It's been made to work. So you get
01:52 a slightly different CVT clutch that engages lower. You've got more low end torque, but you've also
01:56 got a lot more power than the old 820. How much more power? 45% more. And that also means this
02:03 is a faster machine. Kawasaki says it is up to 30% faster than the old 820. We just stretched
02:10 its legs on a little dirt road, got up to 56 miles an hour, which is the thing that you would
02:14 not have done with the old mule. It's also more than its numbers. So you've got this fancy exhaust
02:20 down here. It's a dual wall exhaust. Why is that important? It keeps you cooler, especially if you
02:25 were in the back seat. You've got a little bit of heat shielding to keep the heat away from you.
02:29 The dual wall exhaust keeps you cooler. It also makes the thing considerably quieter. On a work
02:34 rig, all that noise, all that vibration just makes you worn out that much faster. Kawasaki thought
02:40 about this and made it a rig that you can use all day long. It's also a lot easier to maintain.
02:46 They changed the air filter situation. It's a much larger air filter. Used to be you had to
02:50 change the filter on this rig every 50 hours. Now it's 200 hours. That is a huge change. They've
02:56 also changed the oil filter location. It's up top. It's got a nice catch trace that if you do spill
03:01 any oil, it doesn't go running down into your skid plate. The dipstick's easier to get to.
03:05 They're fixing a lot of things that have been complaints about the mule for a really long time,
03:09 and we love it. Number four, on the FXT, you get the trans cab. That means you can pick between
03:15 station wagon mode, where you can seat six people, or pickup truck mode, where you get a tilt bed.
03:20 There are a couple of other rigs on the market that'll let you pick up a convertible bed like
03:24 this. None of them, they're this nice. You get a steel floor. You get steel bed rails. You get a
03:30 steel headache rack. All of this with a 1,000 pound carrying capacity. If you do have six
03:35 workers you need to move around, this thing converts back to a six seat configuration in
03:40 under a minute, even with only one person. That's pretty slick. The fifth thing we love about the
03:44 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT 1000 is the suspension. A lot of utility rigs, they rely on super stiff
03:52 springs. They absolutely beat you to death. That's not the mule. It's fairly supple. It'll take
03:57 washouts. It'll take rocks, any of that fun stuff at speed, and it doesn't beat you to death. That's
04:03 awesome, especially with a rig with the kind of carrying capacity that this thing has. The
04:07 incredible part is up level trims get the industry's first self-leveling suspension. It's a sack shock
04:13 that's all hydraulic. There are no electronics to it. As you load the thing down, you start running
04:19 over bumps, it opens up a valve, moves fluid into a different chamber, and slowly actually lifts the
04:24 bed to level height. Very clever, very simple, and exactly what you want if you're putting this thing
04:30 to the test. While the suspension still technically uses the same A-arms, the geometry has changed
04:34 quite a bit, and that means you have more travel than ever before. You also have more ground
04:39 clearance than before, almost 13 inches with the preload all the way jacked up. How much is that?
04:44 You can drive over a two liter bottle without ever having to worry about knocking it over. On a rig
04:49 where you're spending time off on a rough trail, that makes a huge difference. Before we go any
04:53 farther, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. Ring the bell, all that fun stuff. That'll mean
04:57 you see our newest videos as soon as they come out. We have fresh stuff every week, and if you
05:03 do all that stuff, you'll see it before anybody else. Now for five things that we hate about the
05:07 2024 Kawasaki Mule, and the first thing is, it's a homely machine. It's got a face only a mother
05:14 can love. For the first time, '24, every rig gets the FXR front end, which really helps. You get
05:19 dual headlights that are halogen and LED, a combination. Does it look better? Yes. Are
05:24 there prettier machines on the market? Also yes. The second thing that we hate, the interior is a
05:29 little dated. This rig came out over eight years ago, and it's doing well, but we are starting to
05:35 see its age in places. You've got hard plastics in a lot of places. You've got plastic flashing in a
05:40 lot of places, maybe some unfinished looking interior bits. These bench seats are awesome.
05:44 You can fit three big, well-fed boys up here, no problem. The material is nice, but the finishing
05:50 just isn't quite there. Keep in mind, this is an inexpensive rig. I think the cheapest one is
05:56 under $17,000. On the one hand, this is a tool, not a toy. We get that. On the other hand,
06:02 the market's moved to a place where some of this stuff should be addressed. The third thing that
06:05 we hate, this is a dual latch tailgate. So a lot of utility rigs, you get a single pointed touch
06:11 here that'll open and close. These, you've got two latches, one on either side. So if you have
06:15 your hands full, you're kind of hosed. What we do like, unlike other competitors, this is a very
06:21 clever mechanism. All right, you shut this, slam that, and it's done. You don't actually have to
06:26 mess with getting the bail around the hook. It just goes. That's nice and simple. We just wish
06:30 there was only one latch. The fourth thing we hate, these are tiny little tires. The age of
06:36 27-inch tires is well past us. Throw some 28s, 29s, 30s on this thing, and it would be a much
06:42 more impressive looking machine. You'd have more ground clearance, more utility. Get rid of these
06:50 things. The fourth thing we hate, this shifter. Now, yeah, it's easier to use than a lot of CVT
06:56 shifters, but there are times where you've got to rock back and forth in order to get it in gear.
07:01 That's kind of troublesome, especially in this day and age where a lot of manufacturers have done
07:06 just better work. So clean the sucker up, we'll be good to go. The fifth thing we hate,
07:11 these tiny little gauges. It doesn't bother me so much that the gauges are small. They do a great
07:17 job of providing the information that you need, especially for a fairly low dollar machine. We
07:21 just wish they were in front of the driver. I'm driving over here. I got to look over here. Am I
07:25 in four-wheel drive? What's my fuel economy? All the rest of that stuff. Just move it over.
07:29 So who is this rig for? This is for somebody who does work first. This machine, it's an unstoppable
07:37 force of nature. It goes anywhere that most rec units will go, but its focus really is on getting
07:42 the job done first and making sure that it can do that job well into the future. There are first
07:47 generation mules that are still out there working right now today, and I have little doubt that if
07:51 you take care of one of these things, it'll be good to go for years and years. You just know
07:55 it will work every time that you get behind the wheel and turn the key. That's who needs to buy
08:00 this thing. If you're getting out, if you're hitting the trails every weekend, maybe this
08:03 isn't the rig for you. But for anybody who's got a farm, a ranch, maybe a job where you've got to
08:09 cover a bunch of miles in a day, this is the rig. All right, that's been five things we love and
08:13 five things we hate about the 2024 Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT 1000. If you like what you see, be sure
08:20 to check us out on utvdriver.com. We're going to have a full review, a buyer's guide, all that
08:25 excellent stuff. Be sure to check us out at YouTube, social media, all the rest of the channels that
08:29 you usually find us on. We've got fresh content every day of the week. We have fresh videos
08:33 and shorts Monday through Friday. We'll see you there.
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